


The Demon and the Emperor

by Yrindor



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Demons, Emperor Akashi Seijuurou, Guard Captain Aomine Daiki, Hawk Takao Kazunari, M/M, Mage Midorima Shintarou, Minor Kagami Taiga/Kuroko Tetsuya, NaNoWriMo, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Priest Kuroko Tetsuya, Wolf Tetsuya #2 | Nigou
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-29
Updated: 2016-05-26
Packaged: 2018-05-16 22:58:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5844268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yrindor/pseuds/Yrindor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Midorima has always been at Akashi's side, but when the prince contracts with a demon and banishes his advisor, Midorima swears he'll do whatever it takes to save him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: The Summoning

**Author's Note:**

> All characters belong to Fujimaki Tadatoshi.

_Long after the last of the servants had retired for the night, a solitary figure walked down the hallway that held the mages' workrooms. He moved silently, but confidently, as if it were natural for him to be there. He had nearly reached the end of the hall when he paused in front of a door, and after a long moment, opened it silently and slipped inside. The hinges were well-oiled, and the heavy door barely made a sound as it shut behind him._

_Once inside, the cloaked figure lit the heavy candles set around the edges of the room, though their weak light did little other than cast long shadows across the floor._

_In the dim light, the stranger began marking an intricate design on the floor in chalk. His hand was steady, and the circles he sketched were flawless, though he still worked in chalk first in the unlikely event he made a mistake. Once he was satisfied with the design, he traced it again in heavy ink, and again with a thick trail of salt. Finally, he drew a silver dagger from his belt and ran it across his palm, tracing the outermost two circles of his diagram once more with the blood that dripped from his hand._

_After a final check of the intricate circles and runes that covered the floor, he stepped between the two rings of blood, taking care to ensure the edge of his cloak did not disturb the fragile diagram. From his position between the two wards, he stretched out his hand, letting several more drops of blood fall on the character written in the very center of the circle._

_Demon._

_As his blood fell, he began to chant. His voice carried an unseen power as he spoke of demons and gates to hell, of contracts and of loans, and as he spoke, a thick fog began to boil up from the center of the floor, swirling thickly around the blood that still dripped from his hand into the center of the floor. In seeming defiance of the laws of nature, the fog did not stray beyond the bounds of the circle._

_As the cloaked figure finished his chant, a deep voice responded, seemingly coming from nowhere and from everywhere. Though it spoke the same language as the man, it's voice was guttural and had none of the elegance of the earlier chant._

_"What do you want?" it demanded._

_"A contract."_

_"What do you want?" the harsh voice asked again, and as it spoke, the tendrils of fog became agitated, lashing at the edges of the barrier and wrapping themselves around the legs of the mage._

_"Power," the man replied_

_"You know our cost?"_

_"Yes."_

_"We can give you the power you seek. You know what to do if you wish to sign the contract." The fog began to coalesce into a vaguely humanoid shape._

_The cloaked figure said nothing but drew his dagger and slashed it across his palm once more. As the blood dripped into the circles, the runes began to glow a fiery red, the light slowly tracing the lines of the circle like a spreading pool of blood. As the runes glowed brighter, the necromancer began a new chant._

_"Demons of the seventh plane of hell, I, the necromancer, summon you to do my bidding. You will lend me your power and serve me, and in return, I will pay your price when you have fulfilled your duties to me. This I swear on the name of myself and my family. Let the contract be signed!" He practically shouted the final sentence as he slammed his bloody palm to the floor directly on top of the central rune._

_A sudden and unnatural gust of wind extinguished all of the candles and the glowing runes, and the darkness was filled with the screams of the necromancer and the laughter of a demon called forth from the depths of hell for the first time in centuries._


	2. The Emperor's Son

Akashi Seijūrō was born to the Emperor of the Red Kingdom and his wife to much fanfare. As the only child of the royal family, he was both revered and heavily guarded from the day he was born. Years earlier, after a period of civil war, the Emperor had ordered his entire extended family executed to ensure none of them would challenge his rule. It was a move that had received remarkably little resistance at the time, but several years later, when the Emperor and his wife seemed unable to bear a child, whispers about the viability of the current ruling line and the legitimacy of the Emperor's rule began to circulate.

For that reason, the birth of one Akashi Seijūrō was greeted with celebration throughout the kingdom, and the Emperor did everything in his power to ensure that nothing would threaten his heir. For the first couple of years of his life, Akashi was raised in a dedicated nursery in the palace. The doors to the wing were guarded by at least two guards no matter the hour, and none other than the Emperor and his wife and a carefully selected handful of nursemaids were allowed to enter.

When Akashi turned three, the Emperor's wife began to complain that Akashi was lonely without the company of other children, and she urged her husband to find a friend for the young prince. Around the same time, the emperor's Chief Mage found himself suddenly and unexpectedly saddled with a child after another mage in the palace passed away unexpectedly and left behind an orphan child he had been raising. The Chief Mage had no interest in raising a child of his own, preferring to spend his days buried in his spells and books, but when the Emperor ordered him to raise the orphan to be a companion for the prince, he had little choice but to obey.

Thus, Midorima Shintarō came into the life of Akashi Seijūrō, and the two of them enjoyed several happy months together in the heavily guarded palace nursery. However, such idyllic days were not to last. The Emperor was determined that his son would follow in his footsteps, so before the young Akashi even turned four, the Emperor began selecting tutors to school him on any and all subjects necessary for a future ruler. The tutors were selected for their single-minded focus and expertise, and they were under strict orders from the Emperor not to waste time on frivolous things such as praise.

The Emperor, aware of the importance of strong advisors in a rule such as his, ordered his Chief Mage to raise Midorima as he was raising Akashi; however, while the Chief Mage would never openly disobey the Emperor, he did not have the same motivation as his ruler. Both Midorima and Akashi spent hours every day devoted to their studies, but while Akashi spent his time under the strict eye of his father's tutors, Midorima's time was more frequently spent poring over whatever texts his master had left for him.

It was perhaps a blessing then that Midorima had an insatiable thirst for knowledge, and by the time he was seven, he would regularly finish the books the Chief Mage left for him long before his lessons were scheduled to end, and he would fill the remaining time poking around in the more advanced texts that lined the walls of the Chief Mage's study. While he had never been explicitly forbidden from doing so, he doubted such behavior would be encouraged should the Chief Mage discover it, so he was always careful to have any signs of his browsing hidden long before his master returned for the night.

Midorima never witnessed Akashi's lessons directly, nor did he ever meet Akashi's tutors, but he could see the toll they were taking on the prince nonetheless. The happy, carefree moments of their childhood were distant memories, long since replaced with memories of Akashi writing reports until his fingers bled and the Emperor interrupting Akashi's evenings with Midorima to drill his son on the finer points of ruling.

Not long after Akashi's eighth birthday, the Emperor's wife fell ill. It was a common illness that swept through the land every few years, and it was usually mild, but she never recovered, finally passing away several months later. She had always been the more temperate of the ruling pair, and without her to rein him in, the Emperor's rule became even more draconic than it had been before. He embarked on a series of military campaigns, expanding the borders of his empire by crushing any opposition that was sent against him, and establishing military outposts in the ruins he left behind.

Unfortunately, Akashi was not spared from his father's increasing authoritarianism. After a string of executions, no one in the palace dared question the Emperor's orders, even as many of them pitied the young prince who was being pushed harder and judged more harshly than anyone else.

While the Emperor recognized the worth of his Chief Mage and Guard Captain, he saw little point in interacting directly with any subordinates below them, so Midorima slipped largely unnoticed under his radar. The opposite was not true however, and Midorima was acutely aware of the pressures the Emperor placed on his son. On the morning of his ninth birthday, Midorima looked at his reflection in his washbasin and swore his loyalty to the prince, pledging to do whatever was necessary so that he could one day take some of the burden off of him.

There was no one to witness his promise, but there didn't need to be. After that day, Midorima threw himself even more tirelessly into his studies, finishing the texts his master left for him as quickly as possible and spending the rest of his day poring over the most advanced theoretical and historical texts he could manage. The Chief Mage only grudgingly spent effort on Midorima, usually just leaving out a few books with a note, and providing a decided lack of tutoring in the actual practice of magic.

At first, Midorima tried to seek out some of the other mages and apprentice mages in the palace for instruction, but with the emperor's campaigns pulling the mages to the frontlines of the battlefield for long stretches, and with the emperor's heavy hand making everyone wary of associating with someone so close to the emperor's son, he found no one willing to help.

With no formal options left to him, but unwilling to break the oath he had sworn to himself, Midorima took to sneaking into an abandoned workroom in the dead of night and trying to piece together spells from nothing more than the descriptions he had copied from his master's books. It was a slow process that left Midorima exhausted and frequently nursing burned fingers from losing control of his power, but he never gave up, practicing night after night until he finally mastered one spell and moved on to the next.

If he had had something to compare against, Midorima would have realized that he had developed his skills far beyond what would have been expected for someone his age, but he didn't, so he continued pushing himself, determined to be skilled enough to help Akashi, and preparing himself for the day that help was requested.


	3. A New Face

When they were ten, a new face joined the Guard. His name was Aomine Daiki; he had come back with the Guard Captain after one of the army's many campaigns.

"Who are you?" Akashi demanded imperiously the first time they saw him in the training yard. Aomine didn't reply, glaring at them from where he was slouching against the wall across the courtyard.

"I'm sorry," the Guard Captain apologized hastily, "he's still adjusting to life at the palace."

"I don't like it," Aomine yelled, and Akashi turned on him.

"And what, praytell, is wrong with it?" Akashi asked, deceptively calm.

"It's stupid!" Aomine yelled, and the Guard Captain was quick to intercede

"Your highness, please forgive young Daiki," he said. "I picked him up in a village we passed through on the way back from the border. Both of his parents were killed by bandits a few months ago, and the village took him in, but he'd been causing problems. None of them had the heart or the control to discipline him, and they were at their wit's end. I offered to take him back to the palace to join the Guard. The discipline will be good for him, and it's time I started training a successor.

"He's still adjusting to life at the palace, but he has significant natural talent for guard work. I wouldn't be surprised if he surpassed even me at the sword if he focused. He's an asset to all of us, even if his current attitude leaves much to be desired."

"That doesn't excuse you, Daiki," Akashi said, glaring right back at the surly boy.

"I hate practicing! It's stupid!" Aomine yelled again.

"Can you beat the Captain yet?"

"No," Aomine said with a pout.

"I'll make you a deal then. When you can beat him consistently, then you don't have to train with the Guard anymore. You'll be excused so long as you keep that skill."

"My lord-" the Guard Captain began, but Akashi cut him off with a harsh look.

"Can you do that?" Aomine asked.

"I'm the son of the Emperor. Unless he overrules me, my word is absolute.

"Come, Midorima, we should move on," Akashi ordered, beckoning to the apprentice mage as he walked out of the courtyard. Aomine watched him go with a mixture of awe, resentment, and distrust.

"Are you sure that was wise, Akashi?" Midorima asked as they re-entered the palace.

"What do you mean, Shintarō?"

"Giving Aomine a way to skip practice? What if it sets a precedent for the Guard, and soon no one practices if they're skilled enough? How can the Guard be a unit then, and how can someone command the Guard well without knowing the soldiers they're working with?"

"Does it matter?" Akashi asked. "So long as they do their job well, why do I care how they get there?"

"If they don't train together, then you don't have a Guard; you have a bunch of highly trained soldiers with no real loyalty to one another."

And?" Akashi asked again. "So long as they follow our orders and are successful on campaigns, why should I care whether they're fighting as one unit or many? It has no bearing on me."

"But-" Midorima began, but Akashi cut him off.

"Are you a soldier, Shintarō?"

"No, Your Highness."

"Then you'd do well not to speak of things you don't know. Remember your place, Mage," Akashi ordered, striding ahead and leaving Midorima to scramble after him.

Midorima doubted the incident even registered with Akashi, but he knew he would never forget it. They had disagreed before, but this was the first time things had come to such a head, and the first time Akashi had called him by his title instead of his name. He reminded himself once more of his promise, swallowed all of the arguments he wanted to make, and rushed after Akashi, taking his familiar place behind the prince's shoulder as if nothing had ever happened.

To anyone looking at him standing behind the prince's seat as they listened to yet another seemingly interminable set of military reports in the great hall, it would have seemed as if everything was the same as always, but to Midorima, that day marked a turning point and the beginning of a new era. An era marked by increasing distance between him and the Prince, and increasing isolation for both of them.

Life at the palace continued in that vein for the next several years. Aomine's attitude never improved, though his skill did, and within a couple of years, he was defeating his adoptive father consistently, and he stopped training with the guard altogether. 

Midorima didn't care how skilled Aomine may have been; he couldn't stand the other boy's attitude, and they butted heads regularly. He didn't like the effect Aomine seemed to have on Akashi either, as his presence always seemed to bring out the careless, ruthless side of Akashi and led to Midorima butting heads with the Prince even more as well.

Unlike Aomine, Midorima was never willing to confront Akashi directly and stand his ground, but that didn't mean he agreed with Akashi either. Some days, it took him extra effort to remember the promise he had made to himself so many years before, and he added another piece to it. He would always be at Akashi's side, become strong enough to be worthy of being an advisor to the emperor someday, and not to lose himself in that power so that he could be the voice of reason and compassion when other heads seemed likely to prevail.

It wasn't until he was fourteen that Midorima found the first signs that things in the palace were worse than he had been led to believe. His mentor had never been the most involved in his training, but over the preceding several months, he had become more and more absent, sometimes disappearing for days at a time, and his interactions with Midorima had been reduced to little more than notes left around the room.

Midorima sighed as he looked at the massive pile of books left on his mentor's desk with a scrap of paper on top that read simply "Shelve." He recognized his master's hand immediately; it was a combination of elaborate flourishes and illegible chickenscratch that he had never seen elsewhere. Some days he felt almost as if he recognized his master's hand more readily than he would recognize his master's voice.

He continued to hope that someday he'd be given a new and interesting task, but that was not to be this time. This time, it looked like there was nothing more than the familiar notes scattered around the rooms giving what amounted to a rather long list of chores. Sighing, Midorima started to reshelve the volumes from the desk; at least that was a marginally interesting task.

He would never admit it, but he was getting tired of being treated like little nothing more than hired help. When he was younger, he had had great dreams of growing up alongside such a powerful mage, but it seemed like most of what he learned these days was what he had taught himself from books. His master had given him blanket permission to read any of the books in the library or in the workroom, though Midorima doubted if his master even remembered that conversation, much less the degree of permission he had granted. Midorima took full advantage of that to supplement the basic materials the Chief Mage left with the old, dusty tomes lining the walls.

As he refiled books behind his mentor's desk, he hit unexpected resistance. Frowning, he pulled the books back down, shoving his hand in the gap they left and hoping he wasn't about to find anything too unpleasant. The bookshelves seemed fairly safe, but he had run into more than one unpleasant surprise while clearing out the shelves in his master's storeroom.

In the dim light of the room, he couldn't see into the space between the volumes, but he felt what he thought was the spine of another book. Assuming it had slipped through the cracks at some point, he pulled down several more books from the shelf to give himself space to retrieve it. To his surprise, he found not one book at the back of the shelf, but a whole set of them, clearly put there intentionally.

He wasn't sure why the books were hidden behind the more common ones. It wasn't due to a lack of space; the walls of the room were covered in heavy shelves, but not all of them were full. Feeling suddenly apprehensive, he took down the book he had run into and read the title.

"Introduction to Necromancy."

He froze.

He could think of many reasons why an imperial mage may have a copy of such a book, especially if said mage was a key advisor to the emperor and responsible for protecting the kingdom from any and all magical attacks sent against it, but if it was simply a reference text, there was no reason for it to be hidden.

He carefully put the book back on the shelf and looked at the next volume.

"Summoning from the Nine Circles of Hell: A Practical Guide."

He forced himself to look at the rest of the titles. They were all on similar topics, though many of them were far less introductory, and almost all of them had scraps of paper sticking out of them and well-worn pages.

He swallowed hard. While his mentor had technically given him permission to look at anything in the room, he was fairly certain he wasn’t supposed to know about this particular set of books. Necromancy was forbidden in the kingdom, and with good reason. Blood magic and sacrifices were frowned upon by most, and that issue aside, necromancy was known to be one of the riskier arts. Demons were remarkably difficult to control, even when summoned by a powerful mage and bound by a strong contract, and one only had only to look at the annals of history for a long list of promising and powerful mages who had come to unpleasant ends after losing control of their summons.

Midorima quietly returned all of the books to their hiding place and continued reshelving, trying to pretend he had never seen the forbidden texts in the first place. All of a sudden, some of his mentor's recent behaviors made more sense, though that was not a comfort in the least.

If his master was studying necromancy, and studying it seriously by the look of it, it was probably under the orders of the emperor, which meant there was nothing he could do about it. It would be safer for him to continue to pretend he knew nothing about it and hope his master knew his own limits and didn't unleash any demons in the palace by mistake.

The problem with banning necromancy was that, when faced with a necromancer or his demons, most mages had no idea how to deal with them. Midorima sighed as he realized where that train of thought was taking him. He wouldn't risk word of this getting out, but he wasn't willing to risk leaving the Prince completely unprotected from that threat. It would mean even more late nights, but he would make sure he knew what he needed to so that he could protect Akashi from any threats posed by a necromancer, intentional or accidental.


	4. Binding and Breaking

Everything finally came to a head several years later. Akashi had been dragged out to be a figurehead for one of his father's campaigns and had been away from the palace for over a week. Midorima had been left behind with a large stack of books to study. It had been a boring, but uneventful week, and Midorima had taken advantage of the relative emptiness of the mage's quarters to work on some more advanced spells that he didn't want to try when he risked unexpected company.

The Emperor had returned from his front of the current campaign the previous afternoon, planning to spend a week dealing with events in the capital before returning to the battlefield again. Akashi had returned the following morning, and everyone expected he would be remaining in the palace to coordinate things on his father's behalf for the remainder of the season before joining the army on the field in the fall for the final push to expand and settle before the winter put a stop to large scale military operations along the northern borders.

If the palace rumor mill was to be believed, and Midorima had found it was frequently unnervingly accurate, the prince had no audiences scheduled for the afternoon and was planning on spending the time catching up on correspondence.

Midorima gave Akashi several hours after his return to settle back in before he started making his way through the palace to the royal quarters. He hadn't formally scheduled time with the prince, but that had never been a problem, even with as strained as their relationship had been recently. They no longer spent the time they found together talking about nothing or amusing themselves, but Midorima would take being used as a resource to work out a particularly complicated strategy if it meant being able to spend more time at the prince's side.

As he entered the royal wing, he passed a new servant hurrying in the opposite direction. At least, Midorima assumed he was a new servant; the man had rather distinctive yellow hair that Midorima was sure he would have remembered having seen before. The servant tried to catch Midorima's attention as he rushed down the hall.

"I wouldn't go down there if I were you," he whispered, "The Emperor's with the prince right now, and it doesn't sound like it's going well."

"In what way?" Midorima asked, slowing despite himself.

"It looks like the campaign on the eastern border is winding down; current word is that the resistance is likely to break under one more strong push. The Emperor wants the prince to make an appearance at each of the main army camps on the front before they start their final offensive. The prince is trying, unsuccessfully by the sound of it, to argue for the impossibility of such an endeavor given the time it would take to ride out there."

Midorima swore quietly under his breath. The Emperor had been pushing Akashi harder and harder for longer than Midorima could remember, but Midorima couldn't think of any prior instances where the Emperor had asked Akashi for something that was truly impossible. "Thank you for the warning," he said, then continued in the same direction he had been going, drawing closer and closer to the disaster that was apparently taking place just around the corner.

He was so focused on what he might find that he failed to notice the servant turning back to watch him head into the fire. The servant nodded to himself, seemingly satisfied about whatever he saw, then continued back out of the royal wing and into the main palace, where he was quickly lost in the crowd of servants that kept all parts of the castle running as smoothly as possible.

When Midorima rounded the final corner before Akashi's suite, he heard raised voices from the other side of the door. One belonged to Akashi, and the other belonged to the Emperor. From what Midorima could hear, the servant was correct, and the current disagreement related to the current military campaign taking place along the eastern border.

"I apologize, Father, but that's not possible," Akashi was saying.

"Don't disagree with me!" the Emperor yelled. "I demand respect from my son. As your commander, I'm ordering you to make an appearance at the key camps along the border."

"I understand, Father, and I see the value for morale. However, if you want to begin this campaign at the end of the next week, then I simply cannot make an appearance at every camp you've outlined. Even if I left now, rode through the night every night, and spent less than an hour at each camp, I still wouldn't have made it to the end of the mountain range in time."

"I don't care how, you will make this work!" the Emperor roared.

"It's not possible, Father!" Akashi countered. "I may be your son, but I'm also only human. As much as I may wish I could, I can't just disappear from one camp and reappear in the next. It doesn't look like that long on the map, but it's in the mountains. It's ideal from a tactical perspective, which is why we chose those locations. They're almost impossible to spot until you're on top of them, but traveling between them is difficult, especially since there are almost no paths through the mountains there.

"It took the army the better part of a week to move into location from the base of the range; they barely managed to get their horses through in places. I know I can make the ride, but it's going to take time; time that we don't have right now. If I ride hard, I can probably make it to a bit over half of the camps, especially if I choose the more accessible ones, but there's no way I can make it to all of them. It's just not physically possible."

"Make it possible then," the Emperor demanded.

"What would you have me do?" Akashi asked. "I can't teleport, and so far as I know, none of your mages have that particular skill either. If you know of some way to make the journey easier, then by all means, please let me know, but I can't do the impossible."

"Do what you will, but you will find a way to do this," the Emperor said harshly. "I won't accept failure. Not from anyone else, and especially not from you. I don't want to hear of this again; I'll expect to hear back from my commanders about your appearances beginning in two day's time."

"Father…"

"Don't talk back to me!" the Emperor roared. "This is my will, and you will make it so. I won't hear talk of this again."

Midorima backed slowly away from the door. He tried to avoid the Emperor in general, but given the tension behind the door, he especially didn't want to be found there now. He decided he'd go back to his quarters and possibly try to find Akashi later that evening. Or perhaps the following morning; he felt slightly guilty about it, but he didn't really want to deal with the prince's temper that night.

He sighed with relief when he finally made it back out of the royal wing without running into anyone else. He walked back to his room, lit several candles, and settled in for the night with another thick tome. For all appearances, it looked as if he had been there all night; no one had to know about his failed trip to the royal wing earlier.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, Midorima woke early to the faint smell of sulfur in his room. He frowned as he climbed out of bed and set about organizing himself; he didn't think there was anyone left at the palace other than a couple of retired mages, and they hadn't done active research in years.

He chose to forego breakfast, stepping out from his room into the corridor that housed all of the mage's workrooms and quarters. Or at least it had when the palace had still been a major hub for discussion and research into magical phenomena. In the years since the current emperor had taken power, the palace had lost its prominence as a research center; it had been several years since an academic mage had willingly come to the palace. Now, with almost all of the mages out on the battlefield, the wide hallways were empty, and his footsteps echoed off of the bare walls.

Even though they should have been locked and empty, he still checked every room along the hall. They all looked the same as always, and it wasn't long before he was standing in front of the door to the final spare workroom where he frequently practiced.

As soon as he opened the door, he knew he had finally found the source of the spell that had woken him. Whoever had used his room the previous night had tried to cover their tracks, but the smell of sulfur and old blood was difficult to mask completely.

Once he knew what he was looking for, it wasn't long before he found the traces of a circle on the floor. Most of it was smudged beyond hope, but a couple of the runes had survived. It was an unusual set of runes, and he was couldn't remember exactly what they were for.

Suddenly, he remembered a page from one of the books that had been hidden away behind the main shelves of books in his mentor's library. He had had no desire to delve into those volumes any more deeply than necessary, but he still remembered one of the diagrams that had been described and illustrated in detail. It was the pattern for summoning a demon and binding it with a contract, and its keystone rune was the one he saw smudged on the center of the floor.

He was shaking as he bent down to look at the pattern more closely. Though it had been cleaned up fairly well, once he knew what he was looking for, he could pick out other parts of the circles. It was a summoning for a demon from the seventh plane of hell; a summoning for one of the most powerful demons one could contract with, and a summoning that wasn't without its fair share of risk.

The lack of a dead body on his workroom floor or a demon loose in palace could only mean the summoning was successful, and clearly the summoner had been powerful enough to still have the strength to clean up afterward. He could only think of one person in the palace who had that power and who would use one of the spare workrooms as the location for the contracting.

He rushed out into the hallway, trying to resist the urge to break into a sprint to the royal quarters.

He checked Akashi's rooms first, but they were empty. It didn’t take him long to find him though; he was standing by the windows in the great hall and looking out at the village.

Midorima froze in the doorway, unsure of how to approach the conversation. He was still standing in the doorway when Akashi spoke without turning around.

"Shintarō," he said calmly, and Midorima wasn't sure quite what he was expecting, but it definitely wasn't Akashi still sounding like himself.

"Good morning, Akashi," he said as he finally stepped into the room and walked over to the window.

"Akashi? I don't believe you have the right to address me so informally, Shintarō," the young man said. He finally turned to face Midorima, and the first thing the mage noticed were the bandages wrapped tightly around the other's hand. His stomach sunk further when he looked Akashi in the eye and was faced not with the two red eyes he was used to, but with one red eye and one yellow one that burned as if with the flames of hell.

"It's how I've always addressed you, Your Highness. Why would it change now?" he asked, fearing he already knew the answer.

"I won't accept subordination, Mage," Akashi said, spitting the title as if it were an insult. "I am absolute, and I expect to be shown the respect I deserve."

"Did something happen, Your Highness? You don't sound quite like yourself this morning, and it appears you've injured your hand."

"Don't play dumb, Shintarō. You know exactly what I've done; it's the reason you sought me out this morning."

"Then you must know why I'm worried for you, Akashi," Midorima said. "History tells us that contracting with demons for any reason rarely ends well."

"I don't appreciate your tone, Shintarō. I am not most people. I am absolute, and I've done what I needed in order to serve my father and our kingdom."

"Please, Akashi. Please reconsider this. It's not too late to break the contract."

"Don't you dare speak of things you don't understand," Akashi snapped, the fire in his eyes burning brighter.

"You aren't yourself, Akashi."

"I'm better than I was. In this form, I'm absolute. Nothing can stop me."

"But what will it cost you?"

"That doesn't matter. I've done what I had to. I don't want to hear of this again, or I will have you banished, Shintarō."

"Akashi," Midorima said. He knew he was pushing his luck, but he couldn't let the topic drop. He had grown up alongside the young ruler, and he wasn't willing to see him destroyed in the name of power. "Please, rethink this. I worry about you, and about what the pressures of ruling are doing to you. I don't want to see you destroyed by them."

"This is your last warning, Shintarō. Never speak of this again," the man before him said, and Midorima began to feel like he was no longer speaking to the person he had known. He felt more like he was speaking to the demon currently sharing Akashi's body than to the person he had grown up with.

"I can't," Midorima said. He knew it was a dangerous statement, but he couldn't let it drop. He wasn't going to lose his one friend without a fight.

Before he could give himself a chance to second-guess himself, he called upon his magic, letting it gather in his hand. It took him mere seconds to shape it into the form he wanted, and he loosed the blast at Akashi, intending to break the possession and destroy the demon. But Akashi was too quick for him, and rather than hitting its intended target, his spell ricocheted off a sudden barrier and returned to him, it's power burning his fingers as it hit.

"You leave me no choice, Shintarō," Akashi said coldly. "I never forgive those who oppose me. You are henceforth banished from the palace and stripped of both rank and title. You are nothing to me now; if you ever set foot in this palace again, your life is forfeit. You have one hour to make any final arrangements you need."

"Akashi…"

"Was I not clear enough, Mage?"

"I understand, Your Highness," Midorima said, fighting to keep his voice from breaking. He turned and left the room, forcing himself not to look back.

He returned quickly to his quarters to pack what he would need, sparing a few minutes to spread burn salve on his blistered fingers and wrap them in thin strips of white bandage. He didn't have many possessions of his own, but he packed his spare clothes and the few books he couldn't bear to leave behind. Then, he filled his belt pouch with the herbs and other magical items he knew would be hard to replace or substitute and tucked the few coins he had saved at the bottom. Finally, he wrapped his cloak tightly around him, picked up his staff, and left. He locked the door to the nearly-empty room behind him promising himself that he would return someday, no matter how long it took.

He kept his head hidden in the depths of his hood as he took the lesser-known back hallways out of the palace. He didn't think he could bear running into a familiar face in the hallway and having to explain what had happened. When he finally reached the side entrance of the palace, he paused just outside the gate.

"I'll be back someday Akashi, and I'll rescue you from your demons," he promised. "I swear it on my life."

He eyes burned as he set out down the path that led away from the palace and into the city.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so we finally reach the beginning of the main story. Updates should be more regular going forward since the rest of the story is drafted at this point.


	5. The Beginning

It wasn't long before Midorima found himself completely lost. He had rarely ventured out into the city, preferring to send requests out with the servants when he needed something. He was unprepared for the bustle, which was nothing like even the busiest parts of the palace, and the buildings that rose precariously over the streets made it even more labyrinth-like and difficult to navigate. He supposed it didn't matter too much if he got lost though, since he had no real destination in mind. He wasn't even sure what one was supposed to do in a city, having almost his entire life sheltered behind the walls of the palace.

His aimless wandering eventually brought him to a large square. There was a market of some sort taking place, and the square was filled with the cries of the sellers hawking their wares. He wandered from one stall to the next trying not to look too overwhelmed by the variety; the tents sold everything from chickens to polished gemstones, and everything in between.

He was walking by a baker's stall when his stomach reminded him that he still hadn't eaten anything that day. He fished a couple of copper coins out of his pocket and purchased some of the discounted day-old bread. It was far tougher than what he was used to, but he didn't want to waste any of his money, not when he wasn't sure when or how he would get more.

He sat on the edge of the fountain in the center of the square to eat surrounded by other market-goers and a handful of beggars. In the past, he would have paid them no mind, and they would have gone out of their way to avoid him. Most nobility were not known for their generosity to the poorest of the poor.

Now, wrapped up in a plain but serviceable cloak, Midorima looked no different than anyone else frequenting the market, which also meant that no one was afraid to approach him. He tried not to stare obviously at the beggars around him, but it was hard when one of them was loudly proclaiming utter nonsense. A small crowd had gathered around him, and they would drop coins into the bowl in front of him and ask about gossip from the palace and the larger happenings in the kingdom. He'd reply with what sounded like complete non sequiturs to Midorima, but apparently they made sense to the audience, as they'd all nod and wait for the next question. Midorima listened to him for some time, wondering if there were some secret code or pattern he was missing, but after the beggar began speaking of future rainfall, or lack thereof, in response to question about how long the current emperor would rule, he concluded it truly was harmless entertainment, and he turned his attention back to the rest of the square. 

Not far from the beggar Midorima now thought of as The Fool were two more beggars sharing a ragged blanket. While not as popular as The Fool, they too had a small audience gathered around them. He was too far away to hear what they were saying, but from what he could see, everyone spoke to the taller of the two men, but it was always the smaller one who answered. Every so often, an official crier came into the square to announce news, but no one seemed to pay him any mind. Given how obviously heavily filtered and skewed his announcements were, Midorima couldn't say he blamed them, though he still didn't see how the news from the beggars was any better.

Eventually, the sun started to set, and Midorima realized the market had ended while he had been caught up observing the rest of the square. He quickly picked his way through the vendors breaking down their stalls and went in search of an inn, not wanting to spend the night outside in the city. He intentionally looked for one that was set well back from the main streets, and he chose the cheapest room it had. While he wasn't quite willing to stoop as low as some of the flea and rodent-infested places he knew existed in the worst parts of town, he didn't want to waste his money or risk drawing attention to himself either.

As he slipped into the inn, he failed to notice a man across the street who watched him intently before ducking into a side alley. If Midorima had been watching, he would have seen the same man across the market square earlier in the day as well and would perhaps have found the man's yellow hair strangely familiar. Midorima hadn't been paying attention though, distracted as he was by all of the new sights and the numbness that had come from the events of the day, so he never noticed his strange follower.

Once inside, Midorima paid for a light dinner before settling into his room and trying to sleep. As he tossed and turned, he wondered how people ever slept in the city. He was used to the relative quiet of his wing of the palace, and as a result, he woke every time a carriage passed on the street outside or drunken brawl spilled out from one of the nearby taverns. By the time morning finally rolled around, he felt as if he hadn't slept at all, and his already frayed nerves were ready to snap. In his sleep-deprived and hyperaware state, his money issues felt even more acute, as did his growing fear that someone in the village would recognize him and start asking questions. While Akashi hadn't expressly forbidden him from speaking of what had happened, he didn't think any good would come of it, and he wanted to lay as low as possible until he had a plan and was ready to act. The last thing he needed was for something to draw Akashi's attention back to him and convince the prince that he was a threat to be eliminated.

While it wasn't much of a plan, Midorima knew he had to leave the city. He didn't know where he would go from there, but he knew that any of the major roads out of the city would eventually lead him to some of the smaller cities nearby. Since he knew nothing of any of them beyond their names, he decided to set out on the first road he came across.

His mind made up, he quickly double-checked his bags, traded a couple more copper coins for something resembling breakfast, and set out. The inn wasn't far from the main road, and from there it wasn't long to the city gate. The gate was already seeing steady traffic from people flooding in for the markets. While the guards inspected the licenses and references of the newcomers carefully, they were less interested in those leaving the city, who had presumably already been vetted when they entered, so it was easy for Midorima to slip through the gates nearly unnoticed.

Once he was out of sight of the gate, he stopped by the side of the road and looked back at the palace and the village behind him. It was the farthest he had ever travelled away from home before, and he didn't know when he would be back. But he would be back some day, he promised himself once more. He wasn't going to let the demon have Akashi.

When he realized what he was doing, Midorima shook his head to clear it and set out down the path. He might have time for sentimentality later, but it did nothing for his short-term goals of getting out of the city and finding a place to stay.

He had been walking for most of the day when he came to the edge of a forest. It was late afternoon by then, and the sun would be setting in a couple of hours. He sat on a log near the side of the road as the reality of his position hit him. He was alone, his feet hurt, he had little money, no food, no real sense of where he was or where he was going, and no real plan at all other than an amorphous "save Akashi." When he looked at it that way, it was all rather overwhelming. He suspected that his current mental state was not helped by his having not eaten since breakfast, but he didn't have an easy way to remedy that either. His best hope would be to continue following the path through the forest until he reached the next town, but he had no idea how large the forest was, and it would be too easy to lose his way after dark.

No matter how he looked at it, it seemed he would be spending the night outdoors, which was not appealing to him in the least, especially since the closest he had to bedding was his cloak. With no houses in sight, he was left with two options. He could either stay where he was and camp out in the open, which would give him a longer journey the following day and leave him more exposed to anyone walking by overnight, or he could travel into the forest until dark and set up camp then. The latter would likely be less visible, and probably warmer with the trees to block the wind that was currently whipping across the open space, but he wasn't sure what lived in the forest, and he didn't want to end up eaten by a wolf or similar.

And neither of those options solved his food issue either, which was rapidly becoming more pressing. If he didn't eat something soon, he wasn't sure he would be able to make it all the way to the next village, which was of course, not helpful in the least since he didn't know where said village was, much less how to find food before then. All in all, it felt like a hopeless situation on multiple levels, and as a result he spent far longer than he should have sitting on the log paralyzed by indecision and feeling like he was doomed to fail no matter what.

He was finally startled out of his head by the cry of a hawk circling overhead. Looking at it gave Midorima an idea. He may not have been able to make it to the next village that day, but there was no reason he couldn't find food himself. He had never taken part in a hunt, but he had watched enough of them to at least have an idea of the theory. He didn't have a bow, or any weapon other than his staff and a knife really, but he saw no reason why he couldn't use his magic instead.

He looked up at the hawk circling again and wondered what it saw. He was so focused on it that he almost missed the rabbit creeping cautiously out from the edge of the woods. The moment he saw it though, he froze, determined not to startle it away with any sudden movements. He began calling up his magic again, more shakily than he would have liked since his burned left hand was forcing him to use his less steady right.

When he judged he had the right balance of power, he loosed a bolt of lightning at the rabbit, trying to mimic the flight of an arrow. At the same moment, the hawk began a rapid dive from the sky, clearly having seen the same rabbit. Unfortunately, Midorima had misjudged slightly, and his bolt missed its target by a hair's breadth, singing the grass just in front of the rabbit's nose.

The rabbit wasted no time in turning and hopping rapidly back into the forest, where it was quickly lost among the underbrush. The hawk, who had been closing in when the errant bolt scared the rabbit away, turned on Midorima, clearly thinking Midorima had been interfering with his dinner and not understanding that Midorima had had the same goal in mind.

Midorima raised his arms to try to fend off the hawk that kept diving at his head, but it didn't seem to matter what he did, or how much he tried to explain, the hawk continued to screech and flap around in his face. Eventually, the absurdity of the situation became too much, and he crumpled to the ground. He had little money, no food, and no real idea of where he was going. He had been banished from the one place he had ever known, his only real friend had been the one to banish him, said friend was currently contracted with a demon, and now he had an angry hawk attacking him too.

It wasn't clear whether the hawk was startled by Midorima's sudden sobbing or confused by the action, but for whatever reason, it finally broke of its attack and landed on the ground nearby. A few minutes later, Midorima risked raising his head from where it was been buried in his arms.

The first thing he saw was the hawk sitting a few feet away and staring at him. The hawk tilted its head, almost as if it were asking what the problem was. Midorima shook his head at that thought. A hawk was a hawk, not a human, and clearly stress and lack of food and sleep were addling his brain if he was anthropomorphizing a bird.

The hawk continued to stare at him though, and didn't react when Midorima tried to shoo it away. In fact, it reacted by taking a couple of tentative hops closer. Midorima tried to shoo it away again, but it didn't seem amenable to listening. Once again, he had the strange sensation that the hawk was far too aware of the situation.

Eventually, Midorima gave up on trying to shoo away the stubborn creature, and stood, deciding to risk the forest path to at least have some semblance of shelter for the night. He expected the hawk to finally leave him at that point, but when he turned back at the edge of the forest to take one last look back at where he had come from, he discovered that the hawk was hopping along the path behind him.

"Shoo," Midorima said, waving his hands at the stubborn bird again, but the hawk refused to move.

"That can't be comfortable" he remarked. "You weren't made for hopping around on the ground; leave that for the sparrows," he continued, then reflected on the utter absurdity of speaking to a bird as if it would understand somehow.

The strange thing was, the hawk did seem to understand, and it spread its wings and took flight, circling once before landing on Midorima's outstretched arm.

"Hey!" Midorima exclaimed as the hawk's talons bit into his forearm. "That hurts!" he said, giving his arm a shake for good measure.

The hawk took off in a scramble of feathers, but only for long enough to move up to Midorima's shoulder where the heavy wool of his cloak provided an extra layer of protection from the its talons. Midorima swore the bird clipped him in the ear with its wings on purpose.

Deciding it was a lost cause, Midorima finally gave up trying to shoo the bird away. "Fine, you can stay," he said, "but I'm not feeding you, and you'd better behave."

The hawk didn't reply, and Midorima was more relieved by that than he should have been. He didn't trust the bird; there was something uncanny and a bit too intelligent about it. He walked in silence for a stretch, and the hawk seemed content with its new perch on his shoulder. In the grand scheme of things, Midorima figured a haw was a relatively innocuous traveling companion. He briefly wondered if he could convince it to do the hunting for them. If their first encounter was any indication, it was probably far better at it than he was, and clearly he couldn't count on readily available food along this path; he hadn't even met another human being since he entered the forest.

As the sun began to set, Midorima began looking around for a place where he could camp for the night. It wouldn't be much of a camp, but at the very least he wanted a place that was sheltered from the main path where he could hopefully build a small fire to keep any animals away. He had no idea how one looked for a campsite though, so mainly he was just looking around for anywhere that looked like it wouldn't be horribly uncomfortable or exposed.

He hadn't been looking long when the hawk took off from his shoulder and landed on a branch of a tree just off of the path.

"Are you finally leaving?" Midorima asked, but the hawk screeched at that, and Midorima swore the creature tossed its head at him.

"What? You want me to follow you?" Midorima tried, crossing the path. As soon as he neared the tree the hawk was in, the bird took off again and landed in another tree further into the woods.

"I really hope you know where you're going." Midorima said. "And I hope I haven't lost it completely; following a bird I just met to heaven knows where," he added more quietly.

It wasn't long before Midorima had lost sight of the main road entirely, and the hawk was zigzagging around so much Midorima wasn't sure he could find his way back even if he wanted to. It was almost entirely dark, and Midorima cursed as he once again walked into sharp branches on the forest floor that he hadn't noticed. He was beginning to think he had made a terrible mistake when the hawk landed on a tree in the center of a small clearing. For once, the hawk didn't take off when Midorima approached. Instead, he let out a cry that Midorima swore sounded like a greeting. It was answered by a low growl, and a massive gray wolf stepped out of the shadows into the clearing.


	6. Into the Woods

Midorima fought the urge to turn and run as the wolf entered the clearing. The beast was massive, with grey and white fur, but with blue eyes instead of the usual yellow. He was certain he had walked into a trap and was about to meet his end in a lonely forest at the jaws of a wolf, but he couldn't think of any escape. He had no idea where he was, he was certain the wolf could outrun him, and he was too tired and hungry to defend himself with magic.

He had resigned himself to his fate when the hawk launched itself out of the tree and landed on the wolf's back, wrapping its talons into the wolf's thick fur. He waited for the wolf to snap at it, and he felt a sudden worry for the creature he had apparently begun to think of as his hawk.

His fears were unfounded though, as the two creatures seemed to be perfectly content and exchanged a series of cries and growls that Midorima swore sounded like a conversation. He wondered what strange world he had wandered into where a hawk and wolf apparently knew one another well enough to have conversations. He was tempted to write off the entire afternoon as a construct of his overtired and underfed brain, but the counter-evidence just kept building.

While he had been thinking, the wolf had circled closer to him, and he was startled out of his thoughts when it butted him in the hip. He fought back a yelp and held out his left hand for the wolf, then switched it immediately for the right when his injuries protested. He had no idea how one was supposed to act around a wolf, but he knew they were related to dogs, and the dogs at the palace were always trying to sniff and lick at his hands.

The wolf gave a perfunctory sniff of his hand before butting its head against it and letting out a short yip. Then it began circling him again, stopping at the injured hand that hung loosely by his side. The wolf's reaction was instantaneous. It immediately backed away, hackles raised, and let out a long, low growl that Midorima recognized as a warning.

Midorima knew very little about wolves, but it didn't take an expert to figure out the cause of the wolf's unease.

"Hey, calm there. It's okay," he said, hoping that the same rules that applied to dogs applied to wolves. "It wasn't me, okay? I'm with you though, I don't like it either. It's why I'm here, actually. Not that you can understand me, but the demon smell's not mine, okay?"

Whether it was his tone of voice or what he said, the wolf seemed to relax a bit. It looked at him once more before walking back into the woods, the hawk still on its back. It hadn't gone far when it stopped and turned back to him, and Midorima was hit with a sudden sense of déjà vu.

"You want me to follow you too now?" he asked incredulously. In all of his time at the palace, he had never come across references of helpful wild animals like this, not even in the more obscure tomes he had consulted. Sure, there had been the occasional mention of a wizard stuck in animal form after a spell gone horribly wrong, or of animals given some semblance of human consciousness through experiments with necromancy, which never ended well of course. He wondered if the phenomenon was more common than the literature would suggest, or if he was having a truly unusual experience.

He was startled out of his thoughts again, this time by the harsh cry of the hawk. "Fine, fine, I'm coming," he said, starting to pick his way back through the underbrush.

With the light rapidly fading from the woods, it became harder and harder to keep track of the wolf when it went on ahead, and the distance between them continued to shrink until, eventually, he found himself keeping one hand on the wolf's back as it made its way through the dense brush. He really hoped it knew where it was going, and that its destination wasn't going to spell a horrible end for him, because he was completely and utterly lost by that point, and the thick tree cover and overcast sky meant he didn't even have the stars to guide his navigation.

He lost track of how long they had been walking when the trees suddenly gave way to a small clearing. A small cottage stood in the center, and someone was standing in the doorway, silhouetted by the light spilling out from the room behind them.

The wolf let out a short howl before running ahead.

"Nigō!" the stranger exclaimed. "Where did you get off too? I was beginning to worry about you."

The wolf let out a couple of short barks, then took the person's sleeve gently in its mouth and starting guiding them over to where Midorima stood. The stranger was a fairly short man with pale hair, and he was dressed entirely in white robes. A priest of some sort, then, Midorima concluded.

The wolf stopped near Midorima and released the priest's hand. "We have a visitor, Nigō?" the man asked. The hawk cried in acknowledgement. "Oh, more than one visitor then?"

"Umm, just me and a random hawk," Midorima said hesitantly, uncertain what the protocol was for introductions in this sort of situation. "My name is Midorima Shintarō."

"The prince's mage?"

"Yes," Midorima replied out of habit. Then he caught himself, remembering why he was in this situation in the first place. "Or at least, I was. It's complicated, but let's just say my current status at the palace is questionable."

"I see," the priest said. "In that case, I think you should come inside. I'd be interested in hearing what happened, and if Nigō brought you here, then he probably thought you needed help. I'm Kuroko by the way. Kuroko Tetsuya; I'm a priest, though not formally affiliated with any temple."

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance," Midorima replied out of habit as his mind struggled to wrap itself around the fact that he apparently looked so pathetic a wolf decided to pity him and bring him back to a person who could take care of him. Even if it was a true statement on many levels, his pride wasn't used to such a blow.

Midorima's stomach chose that moment to let out a loud growl, reminding him that he still hadn't eaten since breakfast. The hawk let out a short cry, and Midorima would have sworn that it was laughing at him. He resisted the urge to curse at the infernal creature. It may have been helpful in leading him here, but that didn't mean he enjoyed its teasing.

"Come, I just finished cooking dinner, and it sounds like you could use some."

"I don't want to take your food," Midorima said, the rules of etiquette the palace had ingrained in him dictating that propriety take precedence over his stomach.

"Oh, it's no problem at all. It's just leftovers, and I warmed up the entire pot; it's easier that way. There's plenty for both of us. Go on inside, I'll be in in a moment," the priest said, tangling his hand in the fur of the wolf's neck.

"Nigō, I think we're almost out of firewood again, will you help me bring some more in?" he asked, and the both of them walked around the side of the cottage, the hawk still settled in the wolf's fur by Kuroko's hand.

Midorima entered the cottage and was immediately grateful for the warmth from the fire. Something about the room was a bit off though, but it took him a moment to pinpoint it. Finally, he realized that the room was nearly dark. There were several small lamps placed around the room, but none of them were lit, even though it had been dark for some time. The only light in the room came from the fire, which had a large pot bubbling on top of it.

Concluding that the priest must have been praying or meditating while dinner was cooking, Midorima set his pack in a corner and sat on the floor until his host returned. He was only waiting for a few minutes before the priest returned carrying a small stack of firewood, Nigō still by his side and now carrying log in his mouth.

Midorima waited while his two new companions added the firewood to a messy stack near the fire. Then Kuroko crossed the room to a small cupboard and pulled out two wooden bowls and a pair of mismatched spoons.

"Midorima-kun," he said softly. "Would you mind serving for us? I have a bad habit of accidentally scalding myself when I serve; Kagami-kun is always scolding me for it."

Midorima didn't know who the Kagami-kun Kuroko mentioned was, but he decided he could ask later, after he had eaten. He took the bowls from Kuroko, ladled out some of the stew from the pot over the fire, and set both of the bowls on the table.

"Thank you," Kuroko said as he sat at one of the chairs at the small table. In the slightly better light, Midorima noted that Kuroko had pale blue hair, and blue eyes that matched those of his wolf. Blue eyes that appeared to be focusing on nothing in particular.

As Midorima went to sit down, he stubbed his toe on a crate next to the table that he hadn't noticed in the shadows. He swore loudly and grabbed his foot.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Midorima-kun! Are you all right?" Kuroko asked quickly. Nigō let out two short barks, and Kuroko paled. "I completely forgot about the lamps," he apologized. "Normally Kagami-kun's the only one who visits here, and he knows to light them. I tend to forget that they're there." Kuroko paused before he continued. "If you hadn't noticed already, I'm blind. I'm sorry if I inconvenienced you."

"No, it's fine," Midorima reassured him. "Do you mind if I use magic?" he asked. He knew some of the temples looked down on magic, or treated it as something sacred that shouldn't be used for everyday tasks, and he didn't want to offend his host.

"That would be fine, Midorima-kun," Kuroko said. "In fact, that might be better. I'm not sure where Kagami keeps the flint; he may bring it with him for all I know."

Midorima mentally sighed with relief. He had spent so long lighting candles with magic that he wasn't even sure he remembered how to do it otherwise. He flicked his fingers, and the candles in the lamps along the walls flickered to life. Once his eyes adjusted to the sudden light, he dug into the stew Kuroko had offered. He wasn't sure how much was due to hunger, but he thought it was some of the best stew he had ever tasted.

Once they had eaten their fill, Kuroko spoke again. "If you don't mind my asking, Midorima-kun, how did you end up here in the first place? You mentioned earlier that you were no longer in the best graces of the palace, but what happened? I'm not as isolated as I seem here, but it still takes time for news to filter down."

"I'm not sure exactly where to start the story," Midorima began, "but the short version is that the prince contracted with a demon two nights ago, and the demon is already beginning to corrupt him. He's not himself, and he didn't take kindly to be suggestion that he maybe rethink his choices."

He wasn't sure where to go from there, so he jumped all the way back to their childhood when the Emperor had first started putting undue pressure on his son. He wasn't sure how long he spoke, but Kuroko listened patiently as the words spilled out of him. Something about the quiet priest seemed to break down the barriers he usually cultivated so carefully, and when he finally finished telling the story of his meeting with the strange hawk earlier that day and how it had led to meeting with Kuroko, he found himself feeling calmer and more drained than he had in days. He also noticed with horror that his eyes were suddenly damp, and he was grateful that the other man couldn't see evidence of his weakness.

"That's quite the story, Midorima-kun," Kuroko said when Midorima finally fell silent, "but I hope I may be able to help you. We can speak more of it tomorrow, but you aren't the only one who has been concerned with the direction in which the rulers have been going and who want to change things.

"You are lucky to have met that hawk, though. If you hadn't noticed, he's not a normal hawk; he's of a similar sort to Nigō here. It's hard to separate truth from myth with them, but there are a lot of stories about that hawk and the warriors it has served in the past. It's said to be an omen of great change. The stories never mention a name for the hawk though, so you can name it whatever you like. Choose carefully though; I have a feeling its part in this story isn't done yet."

Midorima thought for a long moment. "In that case, I think I will name it Taka-Ō," he said. "The Hawk King. It seems fitting for such a noble, if irritating creature." The hawk cried loudly from where it was sitting on Nigō's back next to the table, and made a half-hearted peck at Midorima's leg.

Midorima laughed. "I'm going to assume you like that name, then," he said.

Kuroko laughed quietly too. "It's a good and noble name indeed. And one that makes a good pair with my Nigō. He's such a selfless creature that I named him Benevolent Dog. I had no name for him when we first met, but the name came to me in a dream after the first time he saved my life."

"Are you a prophet then," Midorima asked, trying to repress his instinctive shudder. While he had nothing against seers and prophets in theory, the thought of someone being able to see intimate details of his past and future had always made him uncomfortable.

"Of a sort," Kuroko replied. "My abilities as a seer are rather unpredictable and limited. I also have some skill as a mage, but I'm weak alone. My real strength is in manipulating the magic of others. I can take it and redirect it elsewhere or shape it into different forms. But that requires a strong mage to work with, and I usually work alone, or with a non-magical fighter. Most of the time, I'm nothing but a liability."

"I apologize," Midorima said. Clearly he had accidentally hit on a sore subject for the priest.

"No apologies are necessary, Midorima-kun. I know my limitations," Kuroko said. "In any case, you must be exhausted. Why don't you rest, and we can speak more in the morning. I'm afraid I don't have much to offer, since I don't usually have overnight guests, or at least not who don't bring their own sleeping roll, but there should be a couple of spare blankets somewhere. Nigō may have used them as a bed at some point, but they should still be fairly clean."

"Thank you," Midorima replied. "It will undoubtedly be more comfortable than my original plan, which involved sleeping outside in the forest tonight." He rose and found a couple of blankets sitting on the floor in the corner. He rearranged them for himself, trying to ignore the slightly musty dog smell. When Nigō crossed the room to stand in front of him, he fully expected to have to argue for possession of the bedding, but Nigō simply waited until he was settled, then lay down in front of him protectively. Taka-Ō hopped awkwardly onto the wolf's side and tucked its head under its wing, appearing to fall asleep as well.

The last thing Midorima thought as he fell asleep was that he never would have imagined that, after being disgraced and banished from the palace, he would find companions in such an unlikely area. He still had no solution for how to rescue Akashi, but at least he no longer felt as hopeless as he had the night before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The name Midorima gives Takao here is written with the characters 鷹王, and Nigou is written 仁狗.


	7. Unexpected Allies

The next morning, Midorima woke to the sound of birds singing outside the small cabin. He stretched and winced as his joints cracked. He had slept soundly through the night, but the hard floor had taken its toll. He suddenly found himself missing his bed at the palace; it was nothing fancy, but at least it was relatively soft.

Wistful thinking wouldn't get him anywhere useful, he thought, so he dragged himself out of the blankets and stepped carefully around the wolf who was still sleeping soundly in front of him. Across the apartment, Kuroko was also still asleep in his bed and snoring softly.

Not wanting to disturb either of them, Midorima picked up his pack as quietly as possible and carried it outside. In the bright morning sunshine, he could see how dirty and torn the bandages around his fingers were. His journey through the underbrush to reach Kuroko's had clearly taken its toll, but he had been too tired to notice the previous evening. As if his noticing suddenly woke them up, his fingers began to throb, and he decided they needed to his first order of business for the morning.

He sat on the steps down from the porch of cabin and began slowly unwrapping the bandages from his hand, wincing whenever they stuck. He was almost finished when Taka-Ō landed on the railing next to him. The hawk looked at him curiously, then reached down and tugged on his shirt with its beak.

"You want me to follow you?" Midorima asked, no longer as skeptical at the thought of talking to animals as he had been the day before. He followed the hawk around the cabin to a small well. "Thank you," he said as he drew up a bucket of fresh water. He winced as he began washing the dirt out of his burned fingers, but the cold water quickly numbed them. Once they were clean, he returned to his pack to find his burn salve.

Eventually, after dumping out the entire contents of his pack on the porch and sorting through them several times, he came to the conclusion that he had forgotten it in his haste, and it was in all likelihood still sitting in his room back in the palace. He swore under his breath.

"Is there a problem, Midorima-kun," Kuroko asked, and Midorima flinched; he hadn't heard the priest approach. He looked up and resisted the urge to laugh at the strange way in which the man's hair was sticking up. Clearly he had only just woken up.

"Nothing major. I just realized I left something behind at the palace. I can live without it though."

"I understand. Let me know if there's anything I can help you with," Kuroko said. There was a pause before he spoke again. "I didn't ask this last night, since you were clearly exhausted, but I still have no idea what you look like. Would you mind describing yourself?" he asked as he walked across the porch.

Midorima was trying to decide what to say when the priest tripped over the scattered contents of his bag and stumbled. Without thinking, Midorima reached out and caught him, and the priest ended up with his head buried in Midorima's chest.

"My apologies; I've made something of a mess out here," Midorima said as he helped the priest back to his feet.

"You're tall," Kuroko said, not letting go of his hold on Midorima immediately. "I had no idea; somehow I assumed the prince wouldn't have an advisor so much taller than him."

"We were careful not to mention it," Midorima said flatly.

Once he was steady again, Kuroko let go of Midorima's shirt, accidentally bumping Midorima's hand in the process. The mage flinched and started to pull his hand back reflexively.

Kuroko's hands closed around his wrist in a surprisingly strong hold. "You're injured," he said. "May I?"

"It's nothing," Midorima said, but he let Kuroko examine his hand, gritting his teeth as the priest's fingers ghosted across his injuries.

"Burns?" Kuroko asked finally.

"I may have lost my temper slightly when I spoke to Akashi yesterday. I tried to force an exorcism on the demon then and there, but it was too fast and reflected the spell back at me. I didn't have a chance to break the spell before the rebound hit."

"There are some old injuries there too," Kuroko said, not even bothering to make it a question.

"It's been clear for some time that the Emperor has been pushing his son too hard, and it's only gotten worse since the Emperor's wife died. I wanted to do whatever I could to help take some of the burden off of him, and I may have pushed myself too hard and too fast on some of the spells. The backlash caught me off guard the first time I tried a few, and I lost control of some others. But I'd do the same thing again without hesitation if it meant helping the prince."

"Come inside with me. I have a healing salve that will help," Kuroko said, taking hold of Midorima's sleeve. Then he stopped. "Ah, I'm sorry, Midorima-kun. I'm not about to step on anything again, am I?" he asked.

Midorima looked down at the contents of his pack strewn all over the porch. "Sorry, give me a minute and I'll clean this up. I made something of a mess out here." He quickly shoved all of his belonging back into his bag, then took Kuroko's arm and led him back to the door.

"Thank you, Midorima-kun," Kuroko said once they were back inside. "I'm so used to being alone here that I forget when there are visitors. I'm more cautious when I'm out elsewhere, and Nigō is a great help there, but I never pay enough attention at home. Kagami-kun would scold me for that too.

"Sit at the table. I'll just be a minute," the priest instructed as he rummaged through one of the chests that lined the far wall. It wasn't long before he sat down at the table with a small earthenware jar with a stylized flame pressed into the lid. Midorima shifted his chair until he was next to Kuroko as the priest opened the jar, and the sharp smell of the salve made him sneeze.

Kuroko swept his hand across the table until he brushed against Midorima's forearm. Then he gently took the mage's hand and began to rub the salve into the burns, starting with Midorima's palm.

Midorima hissed at the sting.

"It will feel better in a minute, Midorima-kun. I promise," Kuroko said as he started rubbing the salve into the burns on Midorima's fingers.

It wasn't long before the sting was replaced by a deep warmth, and Midorima thought it was the best his hand had felt in a long time, possibly since the queen had died.

"Did you make that salve yourself?" he asked.

"I did. I may not be much help in a fight, but at least I can do something. It's nothing special though, just some variations I've made to the standard recipes."

"It's more than nothing," Midorima said honestly. "This is far better than the salve I use, and I made my own modifications to that."

Kuroko didn't reply, continuing to work methodically until all of Midorima's fingers were covered. "You should probably cover that so the salve stays on," he said. "I can wrap them for you if you like, but it may be easier for you to do it yourself."

"I can do it. I've been bandaging these fingers since the queen died. Thank you for your help though; they already feel better than they have since then." Midorima moved back to the corner to wrap his fingers; he was nearly finished when he heard Nigō start howling.

"Oi, Kuroko! – Nigō, stop it!" a voice yelled from outside. "Kuroko, if you're not up, you should – Nigō, down! – you should be. It's important."

The owner of the voice, a tall, red-haired man wearing full armor, burst into the cabin, dancing around awkwardly to avoid the wolf that was circling him excitedly.

"Kagami-kun," Kuroko said calmly from where he was still sitting at the table. "What happened?" he asked, but the beginning Kagami's reply was drowned out by Nigō's excited yips.

"Nigō, be nice. Leave Kagami-kun alone," Kuroko said. Nigō whined, but stopped and sat quietly by Kuroko's side.

"Tetsuya," Kagami said as soon as he sat down. "There's a problem. I don't know how big a problem yet, but it's definitely a problem. I mean, it ultimately could end up working out in our favor, but it's currently a problem."

"Kagami-kun, could you start again and explain exactly what the problem is?" Kuroko asked patiently.

"The Emperor is dead."

Midorima couldn't help but gasp at that, and Kagami looked over sharply, seeming to notice him for the first time. As soon as he did, he stood quickly, knocking his chair over behind him. His hand went to the hilt of the sword at his waist.

"Midorima Shitnarō. Fancy seeing you here," Kagami growled.

Midorima raised his hands, but before he could say anything, Nigō stood and placed himself between Midorima and Kagami, growling at the soldier in warning.

"Calm down, Kagami," Kuroko said quietly, not moving from his seat. "Midorima's actually in a similar boat to us at the moment; he was banished from the palace recently, and by the sound of it, he should hear your story too. He may have something to add to it."

Midorima nodded in agreement, but he stayed where he was in the corner; he didn't want to risk antagonizing the soldier further.

"Please do explain what happened," Midorima said. "As of last I heard a few days ago, the Emperor was in perfect health and preparing to ride out to the front of his newest campaign in a couple of day's time."

"That was the plan," Kagami began, "but he never made it there. Yesterday afternoon, the army was moving out of the city to their staging area. The Emperor was riding at their head, and just after they passed through the outskirts of the city, he was killed in an ambush. Someone had set archers in the trees at the edge of the Great Forest, and they loosed fire as soon as he rode in. He was clearly the target; even his mage and the captain of the guard who were riding right next to him sustained only minor injuries.

"Even though trackers were sent out almost immediately, they never found the archers. If the fletchings on the arrows are any indication, there were only three of them, but three was more than enough. The Emperor didn't stand a chance."

"So where do things stand now?" Kuroko asked.

"This is where it starts to get even stranger," Kagami replied. "The younger Akashi launched an investigation immediately, as would be expected, and he also invoked wartime regulations to declare himself emperor without having to go through all of the usual succession rituals. Then, only a few hours later, he had the former Emperor's Mage and Guard Captain arrested on suspicion of treason, even though they were the only two injured in the ambush and have no real reason to want the emperor dead. And they both have to have known that their positions would be tenuous if something ever happened to the emperor and the new ruler wanted new blood."

"You think that Akashi planned the ambush?" Kuroko asked.

"It's the most logical explanation, even if I still can't figure out why he acted as he did. If he wanted the throne, there are lots of less noticeable ways he could have gone about it, and many better places for an ambush. I don't understand why he picked such a public time and place either. It just doesn't make sense," Kagami explained, waving his arms around in frustration.

"It makes perfect sense," Midorima said from the corner.

"What do you mean?"

"I doubt anyone else know this yet, but the prince contracted with a demon three nights ago."

"He WHAT!?" Kagami shouted, nearly knocking his chair over again.

"He contracted with a demon. His father finally pushed him too hard, and his response was to summon a demon to give him the power he needed to meet his father's demands. I was hoping I'd have more time than this. It's not a good sign if the demon is already corrupting him this badly," Midorima said through gritted teeth. He slammed his unbandaged hand into the floor. "We're running out of time. We've barely started and already we're running out of time."

"So you agree the ambush likely wasn't an outside assassination attempt but was something planned by Akashi?" Kagami asked.

"Yes," Midorima replied. "There's been growing friction between Akashi and the Emperor at least since the Emperor's wife died. It's been clear that Akashi has had his eye on the throne, but he was waiting for the chance to act. I don't think he's quite ready for it yet, but clearly the demon had other ideas and gave him the final push he needed to cross that line."

"In that case, it sounds like we're in the same boat after all. Kagami Taiga, bodyguard to that one over there," Kagami said, pointing at Kuroko as he stood.

"Midorima Shintarō, former mage to the prince, currently banished from the palace. Also apparently companion of that hawk over," Midorima said, rising to shake Kagami's hand.

"So, what's the plan?" Kagami asked brusquely.

"What do you mean?" Midorima asked as he took a seat at the table.

"Kuroko wants to stop Akashi, and I agreed to help him with it. It sounds like you want the same thing, which means you're one of us now. You probably know more about the castle and the situation there than any of us do, so what were you planning on doing to stop this demon?"

"I hadn't made it that far yet. When I left the castle, I was more concerned with getting far enough away that Akashi wouldn't have reason to be reminded of me and decide to eliminate me. Up until last night, I thought I would be working alone. Having a couple of allies changes things."

"It's not just us," Kuroko said softly. "We're the leaders of a sort, but there's a group of us in the city who all want to stop Akashi. You may have crossed paths with some of them already in fact. Probably not Hyūga, he doesn't leave the Archives much, but maybe Mitobe or Izuki, they tend to frequent the public places. You've probably crossed paths with Kise too without knowing it; he's everywhere, but if he's doing his job properly, no one notices him."

"Sorry, could you back up a little?" Midorima asked, completely lost in the sudden rush of names.

"I apologize, you know so much about Akashi that sometimes I forget you aren't familiar with our group. As I said, Kagami and I are effectively its heads."

"I'm not," Kagami interrupted. "You're the head; I just make sure no one bashes you over the head while you're plotting."

"Well, however you choose to define it, I do most of the planning, and Kagami is our main fighter should we ever need it. We generally try to avoid getting into confrontations though, at least at the moment; it wouldn't do us any good if we drew too much attention before we're ready to act. Other than us, there's Kise, who's our main information gatherer. He's a master of disguise, so he can go just about anywhere without drawing attention to himself. All he needs is a single reference to work from and he can fit in like he's always been there. Then there's Izuki, who seems like a fool at first, but if you can hear past to what he's really saying, he has an excellent grasp of the political situation. People go to him for uncensored news, since he never says anything that could get him in trouble, at least not on the surface. He also helps if there's an opinion we want to spread.

"He spends a lot of his time with Mitobe and Koganei, who always come as a pair. Mitobe doesn't speak, but he sees and hears more than anyone else, in large because everyone assumes that his mind must be as lacking as his mouth. Koganei is the only one who can understand him easily, so he usually acts as our interpreter.

"And finally, there's Hyūga. He's the town archivist, and he doesn't leave the Archives much. He's also just about the only person who understands how they're all organized, so if you need to know anything about the history of the city or of the kingdom in general, he's the person to talk too. Just make sure you have plenty of extra time if you ever go to speak to him, since he has a tendency to get sidetracked with random trivia about past leaders. And don't be concerned if he starts yelling at the manuscripts while he's searching for something; he gets rather invested in his searches and doesn't take it too kindly when they try to evade him.

"There are others as well, but that's the core of our group. If you like, I can introduce them all to you tomorrow. I'd like to bring your news about Akashi and the demon to Hyūga for advice, and if we're going into town anyway, it wouldn't be any trouble to introduce you to everyone else. It probably would be a good idea, if you're going to be working with us.

"But that's enough about what we do for now. I'm sure the others will fill you in more tomorrow. What we'd really like to know is more about what's going on at the palace. We pick up snippets sometimes from the servants who work up there, and of course everyone knows when the army moves out, but in terms of day-to-day power structures, we're still more in the dark than we'd like to be. Especially with the young Akashi now being in power, and the two closest advisors of the old emperor imprisoned, we have no idea who's going to be in the ruler's inner circle, especially with you banished."

Midorima rubbed his temples. "To put it bluntly, with me gone, Akashi is going to be acting largely on his own, or at least on his own plus whatever the demon does. His imprisonment of his father's two advisors is less to prevent them from trying to seize power from him, as neither of them is strong enough for that, and more to establish his authority and make it clear he's not someone to cross. And it has the added bonus of ensuring that those two can't share any rumors that could be used against him.

"Between the strict limitations his father put in place and his own somewhat overbearing personality, not many people stuck close to him for long. Other than myself, the only person who's ended up with any sort of relationship with him is Aomine. Aomine Daiki. He was the second-in-command of the old emperor's head of the guard and effectively his adopted son. His relationship with Akashi at the moment is probably pretty tenuous though; he has too much ambition and arrogance to ever be completely happy subordinate to someone else. It wasn't so bad when they were younger, but over the past several years, the friction between them has become increasingly obvious. There's a secret betting pool among some of the servants as to whether Akashi or Aomine will snap first.

"I see two likely ways this could play out. Barring any truly idiotic moves on Aomine's part, Akashi will probably name him the new Guard Captain, but what happens from there is less clear. It's possible that the added power of being so close to the ruler will be enough to satisfy Aomine and keep him loyal to Akashi, but it's also possible that having that taste of power will only make him want it more, and he may try to either seize power for himself outright or else resign from his position and build up his authority as an outsider before challenging Akashi directly."

"So you know nothing," Kagami growled.

"That's not true, Kagami-kun," Kuroko said before Midorima could snap at Kagami. "Midorima-kun has already shared or confirmed quite a bit about the power structure up at the castle."

Kuroko turned to Midorima before he spoke again. "I know we spoke of this informally earlier, but I'll ask you formally now. Will you join us to stop Akashi from destroying the country and himself?"

"I will," Midorima said without hesitation. He didn't know exactly what he was getting himself into, but he'd do whatever it took to save Akashi.


	8. Preparation

Kagami clapped his hands together as soon as Midorima spoke. "Great, that's settled then," he said. "There's not enough time to make it into town today, at least not if you want to talk to everyone, so you're going to help me get some things organized from Kuroko. Consider it repayment for him putting up with you, and for the food you're eating."

Kagami didn't give Midorima a chance to respond before he stood and gestured at the door. "You can start by helping bring in the water. Kuroko, do you need more firewood?"

"If you wouldn't mind, Kagami-kun. I think I have enough for a little while, but not if it gets unseasonably cold soon like it did last year."

"Great. I'll do that after I show Midorima where to leave the water."

Midorima stood and tried to run after Kagami, but nearly fell flat on his face when his foot gave out under him. Apparently it had fallen asleep without him noticing. He managed to catch himself after an undignified scramble to the nearest wall, but he swore he heard Nigō laughing at him.

Once he had caught his balance, he hurried out the door after Kagami, trying to ignore the pins and needles shooting through his leg. He found the warrior waiting for him around the side of the house at the well Taka-Ō had shown him the day before.

"Took you long enough," Kagami said as soon as Midorima came into his sight. "Here's the well. I'm assuming you know how one works, even if you are a spoiled palace brat."

"I do," Midorima replied, refusing to rise to Kagami's bait. He had a feeling he would be getting a lot of similar remarks in the coming days. They may have been allies now, but that didn't change the fact that he came from very different circumstances than most of them.

"Great. Kuroko can get water himself, but it takes him longer, so when I'm here, I usually try to refill the cistern near his door so that he has enough water for washing and cooking and such. It holds about fifty buckets, and it's probably nearly empty by now, so you'd better get started if you want to be done anytime soon. I'll be chopping firewood if you need me."

Kagami started to leave, then stopped and turned back. "Actually, if you're going to be staying here for a while, which it sounds like you will be, then you should know where the firewood is too. Follow me."

He pointed to the rear of the cabin, and Midorima followed him until they reached a small woodshed set near the edge of the forest. One half of the woodshed held a small pile of neatly chopped and stacked firewood. Midorima assumed this was where Kuroko and Nigō had gotten the firewood from the night before.

"Kuroko and Nigō can get the firewood from here and bring it inside, but Kuroko can't chop it himself. For one, he has many talents, but physical strength isn't one of them. And for another, it's dangerous for him to be swinging sharp objects around when he can't see what he's aiming at. It would be far too easy for him to miss and send the axe right into his leg instead, so I make sure that he always has a steady pile of firewood available. Right now there's enough for a few days if the weather stays warm like this, but especially once we get into this time of year, it makes me nervous not to leave him with enough for a couple of days even if the weather were to turn. A few years ago, there was a sudden, unexpected cold snap while I was away, and Kuroko ran out of firewood completely. Nigō brought in enough branches to keep the fire going at least, but it was close. Ever since, I've tried to make sure there will be enough to hold him over even if there's a sudden change in weather or I can't make it out for longer than expected."

"I understand," Midorima said. "I assume that I could help with this in a pinch, but I've never chopped firewood before. It's not exactly something that was encouraged of mages-in-training at the palace."

Kagami snorted. "Watch then," he said, setting an unsplit log on a nearby tree stump. "It's not that difficult once you get the hang of it. The biggest danger is slipping and losing control of the axe, so always make sure you're not anywhere in its path when you swing. You want to use the weight of the axe falling to power the strike. You'll use less energy that way, which is good when you need to chop a lot at once. Here, watch once, then I'll let you try it."

Midorima watched as Kagami began chopping at the log. The warrior made it look easy, but Midorima suspected it wouldn't go nearly so smoothly when he tried. Even Kagami was breathing heavily and covered in a light sheen of sweat by the time he finished.

Kagami stacked the chopped firewood in the woodshed, set out another log for Midorima, and offered him the axe. "Here, your turn. I'll watch and make sure you don't cut off your leg or anything."

Midorima looked at the axe with distaste. Then he raised his right hand and sent a controlled lightning bolt flying at the log. There was a loud crack, and the wood fell into pieces.

"What in hell's name was that?" Kagami yelled, jumping backwards as the split log clattered back to the ground.

Midorima shrugged. "It seemed faster and more suited to my skills. So long as Kuroko has firewood, I don't see why it matters how it was created."

"At least give a man some warning," Kagami said shakily, his face deathly pale.

"I didn't expect you to startle that easily. You are a bodyguard after all, aren't you? I thought bodyguards weren't supposed to be caught off guard."

"I happen to be a bodyguard who hates magic," Kagami said, glaring at Midorima. "It's unnatural."

"How exactly did a bodyguard who's terrified of magic end up serving a priest who's something of a mage himself?" Midorima asked incredulously.

"It was an accident," Kagami said sheepishly. "Kuroko used to travel alone, but after one close call too many, he decided it would be safer to bring a guard. Nigō's good, but he can't go everywhere, and he's only one wolf. And it may be hard to believe, but Kuroko somehow manages to find himself in situations that call for more than one lone wolf with alarming frequency.

"In any case, when Kuroko was first looking for a bodyguard, he went to a guy who manages most of the local guards for hire, and I happened to be one of the people available. I knew nothing about the job other than it involved protecting a single traveler who wasn't carrying anything of value. I didn't have any other jobs planned, and I needed the money, so I took the job, even though it seemed liable to be exceedingly boring.

Kagami chuckled quietly before continuing. "I learned pretty quickly never to make assumptions when Kuroko was involved. We hadn't even been on the road for a full day before we were waylaid by some of the Emperor's men. Of course, they weren't overtly acting under the Emperor's orders; in fact, they had disguised themselves as run-of-the-mill highway robbers, but when you've been in this business long enough, you learn to tell the difference. To make a long story short, Kuroko made it to his destination and back safely, but that assignment turned out to be far more exciting than it had looked on paper.

"He was happy with the job I had done and found my boss easy to work with, so he came back to us several more times. Those next few times, it was chance again that had me taking his jobs, and they all somehow turned out far more exciting than they should have been, let me tell you. There's nothing quite like trying to get into the village unnoticed using a drainage culvert, but that's beside the point.

"The point is, after I had worked with Kuroko enough times, he began requesting me explicitly, and even if he didn't, my boss still brought the request to me first anyway.

"I'll never forget our first trip after that point. He had heard about some document he thought was relevant to whatever he was looking at at the moment. Some historical note about the healing properties of a certain plant if I remember correctly; the specifics don't really matter. In any case, it was apparently in the archives of a town a couple day's north of here, and he didn't want to go alone. By that point, I'd gotten used to him being blind and had more or less figured out the places where he could use help and where he was fine by himself, and I think he appreciated not having to explain things to every new bodyguard that came along.

"He wanted to set out right away, since the snows were expected to start within the week, and he didn't want to be caught in them. I had just come back from an exceedingly dull job guarding an exceedingly dull merchant, so I took the job gladly. The journey out to the archives was uneventful, as was the visit itself, even if the archivist did give me some strange looks for reading over Kuroko's shoulder. Apparently his worldview didn't include bodyguards who could read, or priests who couldn't.

"Unfortunately, the document in question turned out to be useless for Kuroko's purposes. It did in fact list the healing properties of the herb he was interested in, but it was written by someone who clearly thought it was a panacea, so it was noted as being able to cure every ailment under the sun. Which of course made it useless from a practical perspective.

"We set out for the return trip the next morning, and the forecasts were still predicting another few clear days before the snow started - a prediction that Kuroko's limited foretelling abilities supported, but none of them could have predicted the mage storms.

"Since the weather was still relatively nice, we choose to take the direct route back and sleep outdoors rather than detouring to a village. Everything seemed normal when we set up camp, but Nigō woke me in the middle of the night, clearly upset. He's normally pretty quiet and never complains, so when he does try to communicate, you'd do well to listen. Remember that. I've never known him to be wrong before.

"In any case, I searched the camp, but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. I built up the fire a bit higher just to be safe and would have gone back to bed, except Nigō wouldn't stop whining and tugging on my sleeve. I was about to wake Kuroko to see if he could interpret when a massive blast of wind tore through our campsite.

"It was strong enough to nearly extinguish the fire, and sudden snow came with it, enough to create a complete whiteout; I couldn't even see Kuroko's bedroll anymore.

"Somehow Nigō and I managed to find Kuroko and bundle him and his blankets over to the fire, which through some miracle was still burning weakly. There wasn't anything we could do other than huddle together and wait out the storm as best we could. Nigō was whimpering the entire time, and at some point Kuroko said he agreed with Nigō that the storm was unnatural.

"It was an absolutely miserable night, but we survived, and sometime in the early hours of the morning, the storm blew out as quickly as it had blown in.

"We hurried back as quickly as we could, and luckily made it back with no further incidents. The next day, everyone in the capitol was talking about the storm. What we eventually managed to dig out from the rumors, well, it was mainly Kise who did the digging, but anyway, what we learned was that apparently there had been an uprising in one of the towns to the north. The Emperor had ordered his mages to call up the storm to suppress it until the army arrived. We were unlucky enough to get caught in it, but ultimately it was lucky in a way, because if we hadn't rushed back as quickly as it did, we probably would have run into the army moving out, and trust me, you never want to meet the army on the road."

There was a long silence while Midorima tried to process what he had just heard. "That's more than you'd expect just from meeting Kuroko," he finally said weakly. "Guarding him must be an adventure."

"Yeah," Kagami replied. "It's usually hit or miss being a bodyguard, and we get more than our fair share of obnoxious clients and boring assignments, but even when nothing happens on trips with Kuroko, which I've honestly started hoping for since it's far less stressful that way, he's always pleasant to work with. He's never treated me like a servant, and he always has some interesting story to tell or philosophical question to discuss. I never thought of myself as a philosopher, but I've spent enough time with Kuroko now that I've probably had more philosophical discussions than some philosophers have."

"So how did you end up doing this?" Midorima asked, gesturing at the woodshed. "This doesn't seem like the sort of thing that normally falls under a bodyguard's purview."

"It's not really," Kagami replied. "I'm not quite sure when it started. At first it was just helping Kuroko with little things that I noticed needing doing when I came over before an assignment, or making sure everything was set for him when we returned. It wasn't technically part of the job, but my boss is always a big advocate for customer service; it leads to more repeat customers, and if it's something little, it really doesn't cost us much to help out.

"Around the time Kuroko starting asking for me specifically though, I found myself going out of my way to check in on him from time to time even if he hadn't specifically requested us for anything. I know he's capable of taking care of himself, especially with Nigō to help out, but he seems so innocent and earnest that it's easy to get attached. Don't let that fool you though; he's not nearly so innocent as he looks.

"In any case, things sort of developed from there, and at some point…well," Kagami trailed off, and Midorima noticed his ears had suddenly changed color to match his hair.

"Ah," Midorima said in understanding. He had spent long enough in the palace that he had a pretty good sense of what that meant. That particular shade of blushing and sudden loss of speech was usually followed by awkward midnight meetings and closed doors, if he was any judge of the situation. "I understand," he said, suddenly feeling awkward, and he suspected his ears were a similar shade to Kagami's.

"I'm sorry, that was sudden," Kagami said. "I don't know what got into me; normally we're more discrete than that."

"No one will hear it from me," Midorima assured him. "I do apologize for intruding on your time together."

Kagami shrugged. "Shit happens," he said, "and if it means we finally have a real chance to fix things here, I'll take it. Anyway, I digress. The wood's not going to chop itself, and the water's not going to fill the cistern by itself either, so we should get to work if we don't want to be at this all day."

He didn't seem to be waiting for a reply as he picked up the axe, and Midorima didn't bother with one as he returned to the well, where he found Taka-Ō sitting on top of it and looking at him knowingly.

"Quiet, you," he said to the hawk, not that it seemed to make any difference. For something that couldn't even speak, the hawk somehow managed to get under his skin on an alarmingly regular basis.

It was early afternoon before Midorima finished filling the cistern by Kuroko's door, and his arms were protesting loudly. Heavy lifting had not been one of his usual tasks at the palace, unless he counted the times his master had asked him to rearrange some bookshelf or storeroom.

He finished around the same time as Kagami, and after the two of them washed up at the well, they went back inside, where they found Kuroko setting out food for the three of them. It was nothing fancy, but to Midorima, who was ravenous after the morning's work, it tasted excellent.

After finalizing their plans for the following day, they spent the afternoon relaxing. Kagami and Kuroko curled up together in Kuroko's bed, and Kagami read a new book he had brought with him. Midorima spent most of the afternoon napping, exhausted from the morning's work, but from the snippets he heard, it was some sort of adventure story.

Later, Kagami made dinner for the three of them, which was far better than Midorima would have expected coming from a soldier of sorts. His only prior experience had been the one time Aomine tried to cook for him and Akashi. The result had been sufficiently horrific that Akashi had forbidden him from ever repeating the attempt.

They all retired early so that they could make an early start the next day, Kagami setting out his own bedroll near the fire. Nigō had apparently decided that Midorima could fend for himself, and he returned to his normal spot by the side of Kuroko's bed, leaving Midorima alone in the corner.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for NaNo WriMo 2015. Comments and feedback are welcome.


End file.
